This resource will introduce you to the American civil rights movement and voting rights.

Most people consider the beginning of the civil rights era to be in 1948, when President Harry Truman ordered that U.S. armed forces be integrated. However, you could argue that the civil rights movement actually began right after the Civil War when Congress passed the Reconstruction Amendments.

The following video will introduce you to some of the obstacles faced by some Americans as they struggled for voting rights during the civil rights era.

Now that you have seen Bridge to Freedom, use your notes to write down your own definition of "civil rights" and to answer the following questions:

• What groups can you think of that had to fight for their civil rights in America?
• Are there groups that are still fighting for civil rights today?
• Explain your answer.
  
• Why did civil rights activists want to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge?
• How did the march across the bridge affect the civil rights movement?